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Question about dry firing.
- Thread starter daliff89
- Start date
You can dry fire rim fire, you just need a snap cap. Dry firing without one will damage the chamber because it will hit the chamber's edge instead of the round. Some of the newer rimfires do not have this problem. Better just to use the snap cap if you want to do dry fire drills.
Some rim fire pistols can be dry fired. An example would be the Baikal IZH35M. The wedged “point” of the firing pin never contacts the breech face. There is a large semi circle part of the firing pin that hits low on the breech face and absorbs the impact. The wedge part that dents the cartridge rim will not touch anything if the chamber is empty. Kind of a neat design, that’s hard to describe. If you are interested, I think there are close up pictures on the internet somewhere out there.
I was just curious as to what damage it caused exactly. I always heard it hurt the firing pin, but you say it hurts the chamber?
The problem is that with many rimfire designs, without the case in the way, the firing pin will go forward enough to hit the edge of the chamber. Metal to metal contact. This will, over time, damage both the pin and the edge of the chamber where it hits.
In extreme cases, it will peen a "dimple" in the chamber edge, which does not support the case rim, leading to misfires.
In many older centerfire designs, it is not a good idea to extensively dry fire them, either. This is because, while the tip of the firing pin strikes nothing, the pin is stopped by contact of the shoulder of the pin with the frame/breechblock. Without the cushioning effect of striking the primer, this harder than normal metal too metal contact can lead to crystalization of the metal of the pin, resulting in brittleness that leads to breakage.
All guns can be snapped occassionally without serious risk of damage, but many older designs are not meant to be snapped for practice (although some are, such as military service designs). Also with old guns, on can never know how they have been treated in the past, and while they are still working, your snapping them even a few times, might just be the straw that breaks the camel's back.
Newer designs are generally immune to damage from dry firing, but there are exceptions to that as well. Contacting the maker is a good place to find out if there is any risk.
I have an owner's manual for a Ruger Blackhawk, and in it, it specifically states that dry firing will not harm the pistol. So I never worry about that one.
In the old days, when springs were not made as well as they are today, and there was a risk of the spring taking a "set" if stored cocked, the slight risk of damage to the firing pin from snapping it before putting the gun in long term storage was acceptable.
My Grandfather was adamant about NEVER dryfiring his gun (an Ithaca SxS vintage 1909), and it was never necessary, as that gun could be closed "uncocked", even having a special position on the safety to allow it.
This is an example of what can happen to a rimfire from dry firing: http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=421427
Note though the Ruger MkIII's are actually safe to dry fire... As the thread indicates his firing pin stop (that normally prevents damage) was bent.
Note though the Ruger MkIII's are actually safe to dry fire... As the thread indicates his firing pin stop (that normally prevents damage) was bent.